About Me

I feel I am able to communicate
well and I have a good grounding
in people skills.......Basically
all humanity is the same!
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The foundation of this blog was cemented by the Assassination of Hrant Dink on 19.01.07. I was listening to Setrak Setrakian’s rendition of Arno Babajanian’s composition, Elegy. So
moved by Hrant’s shortened life by the virtue of speaking his mind that I wrote the poem, ‘Without You’ with Hrant's family in mind. The subject matter of the recognition of the ‘Genocide of the Armenians in 1915,’ is very much at the heart and the minds of Armenian's Internationally.
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I want to say: 'Thank you,'
to Keith for the Creation
and Launch of,
Seta's Armenian.blogspot.com
and Armenag for the sources
of information.
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If you feel it would be appropriate, please include a link to my Blog from your Site. I would like my Blog to be as eclectic as possible and include material from as many and different sources so long as it is relevant to my subject matter.

About My Blog

This well-established Blog is worth visiting on a regular basis for a wealth of information of interest to Armenian nationals and to the Armenian Diaspora world-wide. Although it has a particular role in promoting international recognition of the Genocide, the Blog encompasses much more and includes many articles of general appeal to all those concerned with Armenian affairs. Much of the content is difficult or impossible to find elsewhere and the long list of links provided gives easy access to a plethora of material on social, political, religious, educational and cultural matters, and many news items from around the world.

Hello Seta, I hope this finds you well. I am launching my book 'In The Shadow of the Sultan' on Sunday in Nicosia. I wondered if you would like to include it on your blog. look up 'In The Shadow Of The Sultan' on FB.Happy New Year!

Thanks Seta.

ISBN 978-0-9931339-1-6

Get it from Moufflon

An historical coming of age novel.

INFORMATION SHEET

In The Shadow of The Sultan
by
R. P. Sevadjian

This is the story of a boy in his early teens, who leaves his home and journeys 200 miles to his
grandmother’s town. He makes the 21 day journey in the company of his beloved dog (Kaylo) and a
mule (Vartoug). The story is set in the late summer of 1896, during the height of the Hamidiyan
Massacres in Asia Minor. These were a prelude to the Armenian Genocide of 1915, and the story
shows that the seeds of Genocide were sown long before then. The story is written in the hope that
it will be read by teenagers, young adults and those who have little or no familiarity with Armenian
history of the period.

The narrator grows from a happy, pampered boy into a mature youngster who can make hard deci-
sions for himself. It is a coming of age story, and a story about irredeemable loss. His old life ends,
and he is pushed by events into taking a certain path in his life. Circumstances shape our destiny.
This is an adventure story of survival and self-discovery.Anyone reading this book should be able to visualise themselves as the boy, even though the events
take place more than a hundred years ago. The narrator is the embodiment of what it means to be a
Western Armenian: forever cast out of his homeland. The point is not laboured, after all it is the
same for all displaced persons; the boy’s story could be happening right now in parts of the Near/Middle East.

The politics have been kept to a minimum as a young teenager probably would not have been dis-
cussing it in detail. Hopefully, the story will provide an insight to the way of life for Armenians at
the time. Details of distances, phases of the moon, days of the week etc. bring the story to life. For-
eign words have been footnoted and a glossary provided, as well as a list of personal names and
their meanings. There are also short historical notes to guide the reader.

The book has been written as a continuous narrative, without chapter headings. However it clearly
falls into two parts: before and after the event that changed the boy’s life.The maturing of the boy is shown through his actions when he meets various people on his journey;
kind people, bad people, helpless people. An elderly adventurer called Baron Garabed, who helps
him early in his journey, provides some more background to the story.The psychological implications of violence - graphically described in the narrative - often results in
trauma. This, in certain types of behaviour, is hinted at in the text: a coldness, false bravery, survivor's guilt, haunting and recurring nightmares.

Continued overleaf

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

R. P. Sevadjian is a third generation Diasporan Armenian, whose family left Asia Minor in the
1800s and was scattered across the world, no member remaining in their ancestral homelands.
For further information, please write to intheshadowofthesultan@gmail.com
DISTRIBUTOR

Tuesday, 30 December 2014

Welcome to the Armenian Institute’s second edition of its newsletter
Bardez/Partez. This year’s ‘garden’* is dedicated to ‘Armenian London’
with a special spread on the Armenian Banquet at the Swan, the
restaurant at Shakespeare’s Globe, and share a poem on the Armenian
House, a place of gathering and debate for Armenians in central
London for many decades. With this year started also the preparation
of the commemoration of the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide.
We think about what was lost in the Ottoman Empire and what
remains for the current generation of the Armenian Nation as we learn
about the Fabricatorian Brothers, renowned textile merchants and
reflect on how the Diaspora, in particular, can overcome intellectually
and artistically the stigma of 1915.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue.
Anahide Pilibossian
on behalf of the Armenian Institute Publishing Committee
* bardez / partez means garden in Armenian
The Director’s message:
Looking back over the last year we have had a remarkable upsurge in
the number of events and activities organised and hosted by the
Armenian Institute. The range has been varied and rich as you can see
in our special double page spread of our events in 2014 (pp.10-11).
Naturally, we are planning events for what will be a momentous year
2015, when all Armenian communities around the world will be
commemorating the 1915 horrific Genocide which cast its shadow over
every family.
Nouritza Matossian

IN THIS ISSUE
THE FABRICATORIAN BROTHERS
From Arabkir to Tourcoing
PAGE 2
BACK TO ... SOUTH EAST ASIA
Armenian Street in Penang
PAGE 3
TETRIS
Silicon Yerevan?
PAGE 6

ARTICLES ~ ՅՕԴՈՒԱԾՆԵՐ

WEAVING HISTORY FROM FABRICS
- by George Jerjian
In 2004, I commissioned Colefax & Fowler, a global brand of
fabric designers and manufacturers, to reproduce nine
materials that were made by the leading Ottoman textile
business a century ago - the Fabricatorian Brothers of
Kharpert, (today’s Elazığ) Turkey. The designs were taken
from colour copies incorporated in Antranik Poladian’s History
of the Armenians of Arabkir (New York, 1969). The objective of
reproducing these designs was so that they would be
integrated into the display of the Armenian Genocide Museum
in Washington DC, which sadly floundered after a decade of
protracted internecine litigation. These nine materials are now
available to be seen at the Armenian Institute in London, and
in a few months ‘time, at the Armenian Genocide Museum in
Yerevan, Armenia, and also at the Armenian Museum of
America, in Boston.
The five Fabricatorian Brothers
The history of the Fabricatorian Brothers started with Krikor
Fabricatorian, one of Arabkir’s most talented sons. Krikor was
the son of Garabed Ipekjian,* who was engaged in farming and
weaving silk aprons. He travelled to Garin (today’s Erzurum)
and sold his aprons, earning annually some fifty gold coins,
which was enough for him and his family to live on for the rest
of the year. He managed to find a way to raise productivity in
the lace-making craft. In those days, one person could weave
about 40 metres of lace per day, but Krikor, operating the
machine by hand, managed to weave about 200 metres per day.
Later on, he improved the horsepower of his machine and
produced about 1,000 metres a day – a twenty-fold increase. As
competition became fierce, hundreds of shops closed. To
avoid the manifest hostility of his competitors, Krikor fled
Erzurum to Damascus.
At that time, Damascus was a leading city in the silk-weaving
industry. Meeting Hanne Polati was a turning point in Krikor’s
career. Polati owned a silk-weaving factory running on
imported European machines, but did not know how to fix
them. One day, Polati invited Krikor to fix his broken
machines, and not long after Krikor became a shareholder in
the factory. The dreams of this young entrepreneur did not
stop there. He was keen to increase his knowledge of the craft,
and so shortly after, he moved to Lebanon, to work with a
French textile firm supplying the European markets with silk.
There, Krikor visited many factories and although he spoke
little French, he studied the business operations and
technology of weaving machines.

In 1854, Krikor returned home to Arabkir, where his parents
married him to Elizabeth Kalpakian. He had hardly been home
for three years when a wealthy Kharpert businessman,
Missakian Hadji Bedros Aga, who was in Arabkir on a visit,
invited him to move to Kharpert, promising him funding. In the
first two years after opening his business in Kharpert, Krikor
had little profit to show. His partner became frustrated and
reproached him for having wasted his money. Krikor firmly
believed in the success of his enterprise and after ten years of
difficulties and sacrifices, he finally bought out his partner’s
shares.
A sample of the Fabricatorian Brothers’ fabrics

*There is no record of when and how the family name changed, but assumptions were that it was a moniker that was used by others to praise him for his
success and as a result he assumed the title as his family name

BARDEZ/PARTEZ ISSUE 2014 2

ARTICLES ~ ՅՕԴՈՒԱԾՆԵՐ

In 1886, Krikor sent three of his sons, Mamas, Dikran and Garabed to the major industrial
centres of Europe and America, where they spent two years studying the weaving
machines and business operations and on returning home, they brought new spinning
machines. In 1888, the Ottoman government awarded Krikor Effendi the Osmanieh Order, third
class for his products and an imperial Ottoman ordinance was passed giving a tax-free
concession to his brand and a warehouse free of charge in Beşiktaş , a district in Istanbul. That
same year he also travelled to France to take part in an exhibition and he also won a first award
in the Chicago Exhibition. In 1906 at the Exposition Internationale des Industries Textiles, in
Tourcoing, France, the Fabricatorian Brothers also won top prize. Ultimately, Krikor’s vision
was to develop an industry that would serve all classes of people, and at his desk at the age of
75, he was fortunate to see the operation of his spinning mill which provided fabrics for the
general population at affordable prices.
Prior to the 1915 deportations, the five sons of Krikor Effendi: Mamas, Aharon, Dikran, Garabed,
and Samuel, managed the business. It then employed a total of 300 women, who produced all

kinds of canvas, silk, curtains, and other fine fabrics. Mamas was a member of the Kharpert
city council and a shareholder. Aharon managed the purchases and sales, buying thread and
selling the finished material. Dikran was an experienced and knowledgeable engineer. Garabed was also an engineer, who
supervised the production and helped Dikran. Samuel was experienced in the dyeing business.
The appalling events that befell the Armenian people in 1915 did not spare the Fabricatorian clan. In fact, all five brothers were
deported and killed in Malatya. Their mother Elizabeth, aged 80 then, was drowned in Malatya. All five sisters, Doudou,
Nartouhi, Anna, Elmas, Meliné survived, but all lost most of their families, with the exception of Nartouhi, my great-
grandmother, who had moved to Egypt and Sudan. The Ottoman government seized all the assets of the Fabricatorian
business and family and the rest is history.
These nine woven fabrics are the only evidence left of the Fabricatorian legacy, but sufficient to weave and retell the history of a
remarkable man and his family, whose descendants are now scattered all over the world.
George Jerjian is the writer of Arabkir: Homage to an Armenian Community re-printed in 2014 and his latest book Daylight
After a Century is available from December 2014.

BACK TO ... SOUTH EAST ASIA
- by Belinda Keheyan

missing a congregation. More
tragic a fate has befallen the
Armenian church in Burma.

and at its core is Armenian Street.
Sympathetic but decidedly contemporary
regeneration and gentrification are the
watchwords here. Funky boutique hotels
jostle for space with traditional garish
Indian garment shops and zinc-
countered vegan coffee shops. The area is
also home to some of the most fun and
interactive street art around. Cool and
Armenian...two words one doesn’t often
find together.

Letter with the Fabricatorian Bros’ medallion

Penang
There was a time when saying you are
an Armenian in South East Asia did not
require a lengthy explanation spanning
geography, history and theology. This
was largely thanks to the Sarkies
brothers who established some of the
most luxurious and iconic hotels in the
region during the first half of the 20th
century. Establishments such as The
Stand in Rangoon, The Eastern &
Oriental in Penang and, the most famous
of all, Raffles in Singapore. While these
buildings have survived and are thriving,
the Armenian communities of the region
have all but vanished. The glorious
church of St Gregory the Illuminator in
the heart of Singapore still stands but is

Occupying a large central square in
downtown Rangoon, St John the Baptist
was deserted when I visited last year,
except for rats the size of well-fed house
cats running around the yard. The local
caretaker living in a shed behind the
church kindly showed us around. The
fabric of the building is fast deteriorating,
he explained, though some ‘rich
Armenian from Russia’ has apparently
paid for the paving around the building
to be fixed (! really ?). I saw reports
recently on the BBC that Catholicos
Karekin II had visited St John’s and held
a service. Is this a spiritual re-awakening?
The cynic in me thinks that Etchmiadzin
may instead have woken up to the real
estate potential in one of South East
Asia’s fastest emerging states.On a more positive note, it is wonderful
to see that Armenian St is the centre of
the alternative culture in Malaysia’s
second city of Penang. Penang’s
Georgetown district, a UNESCO
heritage site, is a wonderful mix of
Chinese, Malay and Colonial architecture

Saint John in Rangoon
“Back to” is a series of Armenian tales in
unexpected places around the world

BARDEZ/PARTEZ ISSUE 2014 3

Reflections on the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide
Beyond Survival, Beyond Recognition
By Dr. Susan Pattie
Dr. Susan Pattie, PhD in Cultural Anthropology, teaches and writes about issues of diaspora life. She was one of the
founders and then Director of the Armenian Institute. Recently, she has worked in the U.S. at the Armenian Museum of
America and currently as Program Manager of the National Genocide commemorations. She shares her personal
reflections on the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide .

I grew up in a large, happy extended family. We all knew
that the family might have been many times larger. But the
woman at the center of this, the woman who had walked
across deserts, lost 4 children, saved two only to lose one
more soon after arrival in America, this woman set the tone
for the household and for the next generations’
understanding of the tragedy. Her remaining son, eventually a
community leader, took his mother’s approach to the world as
he found it – appreciate what you have, make the most of it,
take care of family (and anyone else who wanders into your
circle). Neither of these survivors was bitter, neither of them
showed or passed on hatred of the people who had killed our
family. Both talked about it to us – though of course, we did not
pay as much attention as we should have.
One hundred years after the
beginning of the Armenian
Genocide, many things have
changed. Some have stayed the
same, the most obvious being
Turkey’s continuing denial. Why
does it matter that the Armenian
Genocide be recognized by
Turkey? It will not, as some
people proclaim, prevent other
genocides. However, Turkey will
be a better place, not only for
Armenians and other minorities
but for all Turkish citizens. This
matters and is important for all of
us.
Secondly, Armenian homelands are primarily in the land that is
now Turkey. They are shared with varieties of Kurdish people,
some of whom have not only recognized their ancestors’ roles
in brutal massacres but have apologized and initiated the
renovation of Armenian buildings, vernacular and sacred.
Genocide recognition, including a different attitude towards
minorities and Armenians specifically, opens the door for more
partnerships in the “old country”.
Today, there is an ever-increasing number of people who are
making a difference within Turkey itself, along with Turkish
people living outside. These include Turkish, Kurdish and other
scholars who bravely press forward with high-quality work on
the genocide and surrounding periods, and other writers who
face being marginalized, imprisoned or worse for keeping the
subject alive. The thousands of Turkish people who mourned
Hrant Dink, carrying signs saying “We are all Hrant Dink”
included people from all walks of life. What may bring this all
to the tipping point is the many people discovering their
hidden Armenian roots, their Armenian grandmother.
It is our job in diaspora and in Armenia, to find appropriate

ways to support these people, their work, their discoveries. At
the same time, we need to work in parallel on ourselves and our
lives outside the homelands. It is now our choice to be here,
wherever “here” is, if not emigrating to Armenia. Those of us
whose ancestors were the survivors have been carried along on
the strength of their memory, their powerful presence in our
lives, the smells, tastes and sounds of a place that we did not
experience but became almost tangible through them. They are
gone. Our children and their children do not have this. Are we
going to bequeath to them only a hatred of Turks for killing and
then denying the Genocide happened?
We are spread out, we are diverse but we are still connected
today. It is past time to build on this in new ways and
recognize that respect for
diversity, not “sameness” is
the foundation for unity.
We can be different but
united in our goals, if only
we knew what our goals
were. The Genocide will be
officially recognized. There
are too many people within
Turkey now who know so
much more than they did
before. For Armenians in
the diaspora, Recognition is
a single issue. For the many
Turkish people who know
that for Turkey to move
forward, it must come to
terms with its own past,
Recognition is an integral part of a bigger project.
For those of us in diaspora, what is our project? To engage
with Armenia, recognizing differences in style and overcoming
mutual mis-communication. We must help by enabling talent,
helping to create jobs. In the diaspora, our project should be to
provide the generous assistance to our fellow Armenians in
Syria, Iraq and elsewhere that was given to us by non-
Armenians at the time of the Genocide. Indeed, we should be
following that example by also aiding those who are not from
our ethnic group. Then let’s move forward into the next 100
years, aiming to come out in 2115 having harnessed our many
talents, wealth and intelligence into thriving social and cultural
institutions in diaspora that reflect our history and cultural
heritage while seeking relevant connections and making
contributions to the contemporary worlds in which we live.
Let us do more than survive. Let us do more than try to recreate
what we have lost – or willingly left behind. Let us create
inclusive communities that young people want to be part of,
imagining new ways of being Armenian that build on the old.

Explanatory note on the photography: The author's grandparents, Iskouhi and Stepan Boghosian are shown with their children in Kessab, Syria, c.
1910. Stepan immigrated to the U.S. in 1914, intending to bring the family there soon afterwards. However in 1915, Iskouhi and by then 6 children began the
deportations as Kessab was emptied in stages. She and two children survived, Rose (far right) and Jack (center). They later joined Stepan in the U.S. where Rose (or
Gul) soon died of cancer but one more child, Helen, was born.

BARDEZ/PARTEZ ISSUE 2014 4

Armine, Sister, a play produced by Teatr Zar from Poland, dedicated to Armenian history and culture , performed from 2 to
11 October 2014 at Battersea Art Centre. We asked Friends of the AI what they thought of this perspective on the Armenian
Genocide. (See also page 11)

“Along with Peter Brook’s now almost legendary “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and some of the earlier performances by
Victoria Chaplin’s “Le Cirque Imaginaire”, this is one of the three most remarkable pieces of theatre I have seen in my life. We
live at a time when the words “multicultural” and “multi-disciplinary” are bandied around all too casually, but this truly was a
performance that drew on a great many different cultures and disciplines. The singing - Kurdish, Persian and Armenian modal
- was superb; and the clash of different styles made each seem more powerful. The actors were not only actors and singers
but also gymnasts. The set was brilliantly conceived: great pillars, representing an Armenian church, were gradually
dismantled, serving in turn as gallows, gravestones, cradles and coffins. And they contained within them the desert sands
that would eventually sweep over the church. Every moment of the performance was intensely dramatic, yet what I found
most striking about Jarosław Fret (the director of Teatr
Zar) was his lack of theatricality. He seemed to have
turned to the theatre to answer philosophical
questions - about the nature of memory and the act of
memorialising. Much of Armine, Sister was intensely
painful to witness, yet it will stay in my mind as a
supreme image of artistic commitment and spiritual
integrity.”
Robert Chandler
British poet and translator. He is the editor of Russian
Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida (Penguin)
“I think there are only two words to describe the
production of Armine, Sister: captivating and intense.
Everything about the performance struck an emotion.
I particularly enjoyed the mixture of Middle–Eastern music that was an integral part of the production along with an
excellent use of props. Every second was exciting and unexpected; from the violent destruction of the churches symbolised
with tall pillars, to the gushing of the desert sand, which swept everything away. Each and every object was symbolic with a
wide range of colours used. I was particularly impressed with the use of the pomegranate, symbolising bloodshed and
eventual death. This performance allowed for a multitude of interpretations as became evident when I discussed it with my
father, which I think made it so special and so unique from any other performance I had seen. There is no doubt that I will
never forget this powerful experience and I hope that one-day it will become a world- famous production.”
Noemi Stepan-Sarkissian (aged 16)

Thank you to all who have supported the Armenian Institute again this year, Friends, Patrons and Benefactors. We are
grateful for your continued support, encouragement and generosity.
We would especially like to express our gratitude to Garo Medazoumian FCA who for the past two years has given his
professional time freely to examine the annual accounts of the Armenian Institute and provide the Independent Examiner’s
Report for the Charity Commission.
Our 2014 Benefactors were: Richard Anooshian, Krikor Didonian, Diana and Panos Katsouris and Ani King-Underwood.

Regretfully, we lost two close Friends of the
member of the Executive Committee who has
Our sincere condolences go to

Armenian Institute this year, Helen Culleton, a
supported the AI for many years and John Heron.
Helen’s and John’s families

BARDEZ/PARTEZ ISSUE 2014 5

LITERATURE - ԳՐԱԿԱՆՈՒԹԻՒՆ

BOOK REVIEW
ENTERTAINING
STRANGERS

Jonathan Taylor, a writer from
Leicestershire, has just published a
first novel which deals with both
Armenian music (and especially
that of Aram Khachaturian), and
the Great Fire of Smyrna in 1922.
Though it is set mainly in a
Midlands town in 1997,
Entertaining Strangers flashes
back to 1922 and the story of oneArmenian girl’s trauma in anextended, climatic chapter. It is gradually revealed that
her trauma, including her treatment by a British
warship docked in the harbour, forms the horrifying
and secret pre-history lying behind the strange world of
the novel’s main characters. The Armenian Institute
helped Jonathan a great deal with the research for the
novel, and he was also inspired by the exhibition
‘Treasured Objects: Armenian Life in the Ottoman
Empire, 100 Years Ago’ (organised by the AI at Brunei
Gallery, SOAS in 2010).
Entertaining Strangers is a tragi-comedy about the eccentric
Edwin Prince—a depressive intellectual obsessed with
high culture and ants—and the mysterious, homeless
narrator Jules, who gradually unravels Edwin’s impossible
relationships with his landlady, neurotic mother, psychotic
brother, domineering ex-wife, dead grandfather and, above
all, his ant-farm. At the same time, Jules continually
experiences traumatic memories full of fire and water, and
a terrible pre-history emerges from beneath all the other
stories, which seems somehow to shape both Jules’s fiery
dreams and Edwin’s obsessions—a great fire, massacre and
one girl’s drowning in Smyrna, 75 years earlier.
The author Louis de Bernières, who has also written about
Asia Minor in the early 20th century in his novel Birds
Without Wings, wrote that Entertaining Strangers is “original,
strange, funny, profound”, and the author Sophie Duffy
commented that it is “a literary novel with prose like
music”. The novel was shortlisted for the East Midlands
Book Award and longlisted for The Guardian’s Not the
Booker Prize.
This is Jonathan Taylor’s first novel. Previously he
published a memoir, Take Me Home: Parkinson’s, My Father,
Myself (Granta Books, 2007). He is a Lecturer in Creative
Writing at the University of Leicester, and co-director of
arts organisation and small publisher Crystal Clear
Creators. He lives in Leicestershire with his wife, the poet
Maria Taylor, and their twin daughters, Miranda and
Rosalind. His website is www.jonathanptaylor.co.uk
Entertaining Strangers is published by Salt, and can be
ordered from their website www.saltpublishing.com or

A poem about the Armenian House in London (Hye Doon),
by Anahid Gorgodian
Anahid Gorgodian was born in Istanbul in 1920. She wrote articles
for the Jamanak newspaper and continued to contribute after
moving to London in 1946. She has always been passionate about
the Armenian House, of which her husband, Krikor Gorgodian, was
a founder trustee. Anahid became a trustee herself after his
death. This poem celebrates the special position the Armenian
House holds in the heart of the community, and of the Armenian
Institute as many of our events and lectures take place in the
House.

Probably not a question you’ll hear among the chai latte-
whatsapping, microbrew-Googling be-sneakered young
drones in the tech start-up world, but here goes: Is Armenia
the original Silicon Valley?
Every proud Armenian, even those middle-aged leather-
jacketed men persevering with their Nokia 3310s, will know
about the Apple founder Steve Jobs’ Armenian heritage. The
late maverick in a black turtleneck was adopted, and his
adoptive mother was Armenian American. The lower case “i”
on iPhones and iPods is probably actually short for “ian”.
Maybe.
Anyway, it’s not only Jobs who hints at the surprisingly tech-
savvy element of Armenia’s history. It was also an Armenian
who was key to creating the iconic addictive computer game
Tetris.
Yes, without a stroke of genius from a
little Caucasian pocket of the Soviet
Union, generations of adults and
children alike would have been deprived
of the inexplicable joy of getting
increasingly sore thumbs while trying to
shoe-horn small pixelated blocks into
one another to a tinny, stressful
soundtrack.
It was the 30th anniversary of the
invention of Tetris in June this year, which
led me to researching the origins of the
world-renowned matching tile puzzle
video game. And I found an Armenian at
the heart of the story. And not just any
Armenian – the Armenian ambassador in
London, Armen Sarkissian.
Sarkissian, whose background is as a mathematician and
physicist, is one of the original authors of the series of
computer games in the Tetris Group, having worked on
video game software back in the days of the Soviet Union. He
went on to have many business activities in the computer
software industry, including the authorship of the game
software.
When he was a mathematician and physicist in Moscow
during the Eighties in the Soviet Union, he founded the
Tetris Group along with fellow games developers, including
who he describes as a Russian-Jewish man and a Korean
from Kazakhstan. He tells me that Tetris Group games were
at the time “registered and sold by the Soviet government,
not by the authors”. So the people who invented what is one
of history’s most popular addictive arcade games went
unknown, and received no royalties for it: “Nobody made
money on Tetris,” he recalls, “and it made hundreds of
millions of pounds. The Soviet Union made the money.”

The game Sarkissian was most involved in designing was
Wordtris, an offshoot of Tetris where you essentially match
etters instead of blocks to create words. He shows me an old,
lurid red box containing the old Wordtris game; it looks
sweetly and scruffily early-Nineties in the context of the
grand upholstery in his West London residence. He points
out that it is bears the company name “Armenika” – “my
name”, he explains, proudly.
“Once in a while, you get logical games that conquer the
world,” he reflects. “For example, the Rubik’s Cube and
Tetris. Tetris conquered the world because of simplicity –
and there were also Factris, Wordtris and 3D Tetris.”
What is fascinating about Armenia’s special part in the
technology story is that it is a country usually associated
with other, more earthy industries: gold-mining and, say,
growing and eating pomegranates. But it is
unusual in the number of, well, geeks, it
produces. Take its proliferation of chess
grandmasters, for example. Its aptitude
here has led it to being referred to as the
“Cleverest nation on earth”.
Sarkissian reflects on this analysis, linking
his talent and passion for computer
modelling of complex systems and
theoretical physics with the ordinary
Armenian childhood pursuit of chess:
“In my personal life, logical games are
very important,” he nods. “I was a child
when my father taught me chess – I was
very good at chess. I used to beat very old
people, who’d get annoyed that a child
was beating them. When I was really
young, I remember we had a neighbour, a retired
gentleman, and running between being fed and making
my next move against the neighbour. I personally value
logical games – chess included.”
Perhaps as technology – and with it new, addictive computer
games like Candy Crush and Angry Birds – is seeing such a
spectacular time of progression in this modern age, it’s time
for Armenia to join it and shout about its place in digital
history. Then maybe all the blocks will start falling neatly
into place.
Anoosh Chakelian is Staff writer at the New Statesman,
ex-deputy editor of Total Politics.

BARDEZ/PARTEZ

ISSUE 2014 7

ARMENIAN BANQUET AT THE SWAN - ARMENIAN BANQUET AT THE SWAN -

The Armenian Institute’s Salon Mashup event in
Shoreditch Town Hall in 2013 was not only hugely
popular and multi-faceted (see our previous Bardez/
Partez issue), it also produced a wondrous echo. A
director from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre came to
Salon Mashup and invited its director, Seta White, to
create an evening of Armenian Troubadour music and
poetry. This invitation was to become the two
Armania concerts of April 2014. However, AI’s new
director, Nouritza Matossian, felt that more could be
made of the opportunity to work with the Globe. She
tells us, below, what happened next...
“ I have always been intrigued by how European Kings had
led their knights and armies to Armenia, a Christian states on
the way to fight the Crusader wars in the Holy Land. They
rested, re-victualed and sometimes marriages were arranged
with Armenian princesses. What were the courts like? How
were they entertained? Was Frankish really spoken in court by
Armenian nobles? Why not seize the opportunity to stage an
Armenian Banquet in honour of Shakespeare's 450th Birthday
and Armenian music, recreate some of our delicacies in the
setting of the Globe? I asked Diccon Wright of the Globe’s
Swan restaurant if we could arrange an Armenian banquet
alongside Armania. His response was enthusiastic:
"How exciting. We've never done Armenian food. Do you have
a chef? You'll come and teach the chefs and I'll book the
Balcony Room at once. It will be brilliant!"
That is how I found myself walking downstairs into the
kitchens of the Globe underneath the
Thames River to meet Chef Brett
Golding. I clasped jars of tahini,
sumac, roasted cumin, rose water and
my grandmother's long thin tapered
rolling pin from Gesaria (modern
Kayseri, Turkey) and, most precious
of all, mother's handwritten recipe
book. My mother was named after
Satenig, Queen of Armenia; she was
majesty in the kitchen. I was named
more modestly: a pomegranate.
"I thought we' would serve six courses Brett, for each of the six
provinces of Armenia which were taken from us in the
Genocide."
Brett nodded, "I've heard about that. I am really excited to learn
these dishes from you. Here are the ingredients you asked for."
He pointed out a shelf of choicest meats, vegetables, pulses and
yogurts. We were positioned next to the hot kitchen with a
huge hob and steam oven, a skyscraper of pots and pans, the
heart of the warren of different kitchens. White coated cooks
rushed in and out loaded with pots and trays. We started off
with minced lamb and bulgur basic mixture for raw kofte and
salads. With beef we made meat balls cooked in broth and
floated them in yoghurt and mint. Using the same mix we
hollowed little cups filled them with fried onion and meat and
walnuts mixture, sealed and boiled them. We finally layered
the mixture flat with the filling sandwiched in between to be
baked in the steam oven. Three dishes or one? Which would he
prefer?

I explained the difference between my father's cuisine from
Ainteb in Cilicia and my mother's from Gesaria, Cappadocia.
Grandfather dealt in dried meats and my father in spices. The
kiwi chef smiled and smiled. I was shocked as I watched his
hands copying mine just as I had copied my mother's. I
remembered the little blue Jerusalem cross tattooed on
Grandmother Hajigul's hand as she worked. I was
overwhelmed at how much emotion was locked up in that
memory of hands passing on their choreography.
We made Lenten topik chick peas and potatoes coarsely
mashed, filled with a mixture of fried onions, pine nuts, raisins
and lemon juice and modelled into baseballs, tied into cloth and
boiled. These were then sliced with the layers showing and
dusted with cumin, lemon juice and olive oil. Brett deftly
opened rounds of fresh pasta to make manti. I cut the pasta into
tiny squares and filled each with dots of meat, onion and
parsley and pinched the corners into little boats. I showed him
how to place them in a honeycomb pattern on trays and bake
gently in the oven till crisp and pink. Then we doused them in a
broth mixed with yoghourt beaten with garlic, a trickle of
tomato sauce and sprinkled with sumac and hot red pepper.
Later on I taught Brett several more dishes - another full day of
kneading and shaping and mixing lamb fillets stuffed with
apricot and lemon zest cooked with a glaze of pomegranate
molasses followed by different salads. Lastly I showed him how
to make filo pastry sprinkled with walnuts, cinnamon, cloves
and sugar twisted into airy rings, which I used to tie around my
wrist as a child. A good syrup with lemon juice bubbled while
they baked till crisp. We added some drops of finest rose water

and sprinkled the syrup over the
pastries till they glistened and
crunched in the mouth.
This sumptuous feast needed an
appropriate setting. We picked
heavy silver candlesticks, kilim-
patterned table cloths, red
pomegranates in place of flowers,
menus designed to be reminiscent
of illuminated Armenian
manuscripts, and napkins rolled
with red, blue and orange tassels
The evening of Sunday April
sipping pomegranate and champagne cocktails. Guests came
from all over, from abroad, children with their parents,
Armenian Institute friends and newcomers. Black gloved staff
brought up trays of gorgeously arranged food; the buzz
crescendoed into clamour. Course upon lavish course had been
faithfully copied by Brett and his staff. Children abandoned
their hamburgers for meatball soup and elders gave approving
smiles and praise. Just before the concert was due to begin,
Brett and Diccon came to join us, to auction a Jeroboam of
finest Armenian Brandy and comment on the merits of the
Armenian food they had made for the first time and which they
would include on the Swan menu in future.
I lingered for one last look: candles still lit, scattered
pomegranate rubies in the setting sun - the Armenian vision we
had conjured up in Shakespeare's own Globe. I took hold of a
menu and a tassel...garmir, gabuyd, narenchakuyn. ”

The ‘Epic’ Representation of Fourth-Century Armenian Queens
By David Zakarian
21 November 2013, Armenian HouseIn the light of recent discussions of the role and position of women in Armenian society it has become essential to
provide a scholarly evaluation of historical processes that shaped the present reality. This talk was a step in that
direction and discussed the representations of the Armenian queens Parandzem and Zarmandukht as preserved in The
Epic Histories attributed to P’awstos Buzand (5th c.). Zakarian’s analysis provided insights into the extent of power and
independence that Armenian queens possessed in the male-centred society of Arsacid Armenia (63-428 AD).

Women and the Christianisation of Armenian Institute
By David Zakarian
20 February 2014, Armenian HouseThis talk explored the received tradition of the Christianisation of Armenian people as preserved in
History of Armenia by Agathangelos. Although the author glorifies St Gregory as the founder of
Armenian Christianity, his account is dependent on the agency of women and reveals the indispensable
role that women played in the conversion of Armenian people. Armenian women are not only idealised
female martyrs whose description is imbued with hagiographic conventions, but also ‘real’ ones whose
representations provide valuable insights into the position of women in the early Christian period.

Artist’s Studio Visit: Edman O’Aivazian, Painter, Designer & Architect
23 March 2014Born in Teheran into an Armenian family Edman O’Aivazian started painting at the age of 13. His paintings captured
the richness of cultures, traditions and the architecture of past and present. His work culminated in the publication
of An Armenian Village in 1984. In 1971 he moved to London via Rome, where he studied at the Academy of Arts. He
has painted in oils, acrylic and watercolour. His work is founded on the need to understand nature though the ab-
straction of form, light and colour. Edman O’Aivazian has exhibited widely around the world. He is a member of the
Royal Society of Marine Artists, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Wapping Group of Artists. During the
studio visit Edman spoke about the art of painting and his approach to creative arts.

Repatriation and Deception: post-WWII Soviet Armenia
By Hazel Antaramian-Hofman
31 March 2014, Armenian HouseIn 2010, the artist began to document the Great Repatriation to Soviet Armenia by interviewing surviving
repatriates, scanning their photographs, and conducting archival research in the United States and in
Armenia. The lecture was delivered with image, music, and video, in a programme that presented the
ethnographic history of the Armenian repatriates who left Diaspora countries to “return” after the Second
World War to a Sovietised unknown Armenian homeland.

Love of the Heart: Mediaeval Armenian Poetry
Created by Jason Kouchak. With Shakeh Major Tchilingirian, Hagop Varoujian, Sonya Varoujian and Seta White
5 April 2014, St Sarkis Armenian Church,Love of the Heart was a selection of mediaeval poetry and music whose content is as relevant today as in the past.
The audience enjoyed mediaeval Poetry of the Heart both in the original Armenian and English to music and
projected images. Original piano music was composed and performed by Jason Kouchak who was inspired by the
symbolism of Armenian mediaeval poetry by Gregory of Narek, Constantine of Yerznka, Frik, Grigoris of Akhtamar
and Nahapet Kouchak. Their words and literary symbolism are a search for harmony and humanity in our loves and
lives. In reading their thoughts and their source of inspiration we recognise that though the flow of time passes the
memories and light always remain and shine for us.

Return Through Art: Exploring Absence and Memory.
In collaboration with The Ottoman Cosmopolitanism Network
12 April 2014, Armenian House
An Ottoman Armenian themed workshop which explored aspects of the idea of a 'return' to
the historical Ottoman space through art and artistic expression. Five informative papers were delivered
on storytelling, filmmaking, photography, painting and creative writing

Dhimmis in Mediaeval Islam: Text and Context from the Arab Heartland, the Mediterranean and the Caucasus
Symposium convened by Myriam Wissa
22 April 2014, Armenian HouseIn recent years, scholarship on Dhimmis – non-Moslem citizens of an Islamic state - has been characterised
by an ever-increasing range of publications. By bringing together several renowned scholars in the field and
new themes such as Dhimmi women, this symposium explored key aspects to assess the relationships
between Muslims and Christians from various geographic areas, namely the Mediterranean, the Arab Heartland and the Caucasus in early
and mediaeval Islamic societies. This was also a good opportunity to assess the current state of the scholarship by reviewing its current
larger theoretical implications, methodologies and research directions.

The Baronian Memorial in Knutsford, Cheshire
By Maria Graham
15 May 2014, Armenian HouseAround three quarters of a million British servicemen were killed during the Great War. The feelings of shock, loss and grief
felt by bereaved families were compounded by the absence of their loved ones’ bodies, a result of the ban on repatriation of
the dead. In the absence of a local grave to visit and tend, most families commemorated their dead in some way.
Full body figurative sculpture was a popular form of civic memorialisation following the war, nearly always taking the form
of anonymous men, archetypes or allegories. Public portrait sculpture remained the reserve of the famous or heroic and
was not a genre connected with the ordinary man. The Knutsford War Memorial stands outside the Red Cross
Headquarters, a short way from the town. A now largely forgotten fact within the local community is that it commemorates
an individual of Armenian descent, the twenty-one year old Haron Baronian who was killed in Mesopotamia in 1917. This
illustrated talk told the remarkable story of this unusual memorial and the family who commissioned it.

Tandzaparakh Monastic Complex, Syunik Region, Southern Armenia
With Ara Margarian and Collette Boardman – in association with Land and Culture Organisation
22 May 2014, Armenian HouseThe ancient woodland site known as ‘Tandzaparakh’ (pear tree meadow) in Armenia’s wild and beautiful
Syunik region, has been home to a number of religious orders since the 5th century AD. Over the centuries,
churches and chapels have been built and rebuilt. Many of the original stone carvings have survived and now
feature in the most recent reconstruction – an 18th century monastic complex. A number of the walls and
buildings of the complex still stand, but they are fast being reclaimed by the forest. A conservation team has
already carried out considerable work to prevent further decay.

Choucas: An International Novel (1927) by Zofia Nałkowska (1884-1954)
With Ursula Phillips, translator
12 June 2014, Armenian HouseZofia Nałkowska (1884–1954) was one of the most outstanding Polish writers of the first half of the twentieth century.
She is regarded as a pioneer of the psychological novel in Poland. Set in the Swiss Alps in the mid-1920s her novel
Choucas reflects her experience of a sanatoria village in the mountains above Lake Geneva, where she stayed from Feb-
ruary to April 1925, and the international community she encountered there, including Armenian survivors of the geno-
cide placed there by the Swiss Red Cross. The characters’ conversations inspire the narrator’s reflections on nationalism,
prejudice, war, revolution and violence in the period between the world wars. The novel takes its title from the Alpine
birds that the narrator befriends and feeds on the balcony of her pension but which for others have a less benign symbol-
ism.

Open House London: Armenian Church of St Sarkis
20 September 2014, Iverna GardensAt the initiative of the Armenian Institute and with the kind permission of the Armenian Primate the church of St Sarkis
formed part of Open House London. Londoners were given once again the opportunity to explore this unique Grade II*
listed church designed by Arthur J Davis and Charles Mewes and built in 1923 through the benefaction of Calouste S
Gulbenkian. This small and exotic building in Portland stone is closely remodelled on the bell tower in the 13th century
monastery of Haghpat in Armenia.

Armenia's National Music: Komitas, Suni, and the East-West Division
With Karine Vann and Oxford Armenian Choir
24 September 2014, St Sarkis ArmenianArmenian Institute proudly presented the London debut of the Oxford Armenian Choir with a concert-
lecture on the towering musical figure, Komitas and the lesser known but distinguished Grigor Mirzaian
Suni. In the setting of St Sarkis Church the choir conducted by Marianna Asatryan performed their songs a
capella and Karine Vann shared her musicological insights into the contrasting western and eastern
compositions of Komitas and Suni which merged into the 20th century Soviet Armenian compositions.

Wrestling with Memory
By Jarosław Fret
28 September 2014, Armenian HouseThe Armenian Institute was privileged to welcome the renowned director of Teatr Zar, Jarosław Fret, in
London with his company to perform Armine, Sister at Battersea Arts Centre. He spoke about his show
dedicated to Armenian history and culture and the Armenian genocide and his work "to identify our
place in relation to past generations and to understand who we are."
Jarosław Fret is founder and leader of the company founded on the physical theatre of Grotowski in
Poland and the primacy of traditional music in drama. Working closely with Armenian mastersinger
Murat Iclincala from St Gregory the Illuminator Church, Istanbul, Vahan Kerovpyan, drummer/
composer and Aram Kerovpyan, mastersinger at the Paris Armenian Cathedral and famous musicians
from the region they deliver a powerful and haunting show.

Once a month the Armenian
Institutes invites a distinguished
guest to present his/her favourite
Armenian film or a new film by an
Armenian director or producer. After
the screening, audience members
have the opportunity to discuss the
film over drinks and snacks in a
comfortable lounge.
Each session starts with a short film
to be followed by the main feature
film or documentary, always
subtitled in English.
Hasmik Gasparyan talent-scouted for
AI at the Yerevan Golden Apricot
Film Festival and brought back some
new films. Hasmik, an award-winning
filmmaker, came to the UK with a
British Chevening Scholarship
programme 2010-2011 at Goldsmiths
College. She now lives and works as
a freelance documentary filmmaker
and photographer in Sheffield and
presented her graduation film.
Cinema Salon has attracted a new
audience, film lovers including non-
Armenians and young people. New
films by London-based young
Armenian film makers are welcomed
and a salon will be dedicated to new
work. Films may be sent to the
Armenian Institute for selection.

CINEMA SALON IN 2015 AT THE
ARMENIAN HOUSE
15 January
Dedicated to the commemoration of Hrant
Dink marking the 8th year since his murder
on January 19th 2007. Umit Givanc's film
about his trial and short films inspired by
Hrant Dink will be screened and discussed.
New films forthcoming include:
'Donkeymentary', Arman Yeritsyan, BARS
media
'The Abode' by Lusine Sargsyan
(Ecumenical Jury prize at the Golden Apricot
2014)
'I am going to change my name' by Maria
Sahakyan ( Armenian Panorama category
winner at the Golden Apricot 2013)
Animation films by Nara Muradyan: 'Ballet',
'The Road', 'Poetry'

BARDEZ/PARTEZ ISSUE 2014 12

LANGUAGE CLASES AT THE ARMENIAN INSTITUTE

Language courses at the
Armenian Institute started
not long after the founding
of the Institute and counted
the late David Miller, the
first resident British
ambassador to Armenia,
amongst its first students.
During his stint in the mid-
‘90s in Yerevan, Miller had
picked up some Armenian
and was eager to improve on
it. The Institute continues to
offer evening classes for
adults in eastern and
western variants of
Armenian.
We have a team of dedicated
teachers and students who
keep each other entertained
weekly. Sona Kalenderian
teaches the beginner,
intermediate and advanced
courses of West Armenian
while Gagik Stepan-
Sarkissian instructs East
Armenian. The students’
enthusiasm is contagious
and teachers have been
impressed with their
eagerness to learn the
language. All courses
emphasise conversational
skills alongside reading and
writing simple texts. The
Institute also offers bespoke
private tuition to interested
individuals.
Vicky Hougasian and
Nathalie Griffith who have
followed the language
courses of the AI tell us their
linguistic experience while
they were in Armenia.

I grew up knowing that I was Armenian, however I did not grow up speaking
the language at home. As I entered my 20s I started to search for a way to
learn Armenian and I was so happy when I found the Armenian Institute
(AI). The flexibility of the AI allowed me to learn Armenian whilst being in
full-time employment.
I continued to study Western Armenian for around two and a half years
gaining a good grounding in all four disciplines: reading, writing, listening
and speaking.
This grounding was extremely valuable when I decided to resign from my
job in London and go to Armenia and volunteer for approximately six
months with Birthright Armenia.
The realisation then dawned on me that although I had a good knowledge
of Western Armenian, I would now need to learn Eastern Armenian to
communicate with the ‘Hayastantsis’.
For the first few months in Armenia it was challenging getting my head
around Eastern Armenian. However, having this prior knowledge from the
AI meant I could improve my language learning faster. It has also meant
that although when I left Armenia I was by no means fluent, I was able to
hold everyday conversations, debate cultural stereotypes, understand the
storylines of plays and TV serials and also read and write more confidently.
Now back in the UK, the Eastern variant is more natural to me than the
Western. However, as my family speak the Western variant I would like to
improve on that to make it the same standard as my Eastern. So it helps to
know that I can come back to the AI and resume my Western studies here
as well as continue improving my Eastern dialect with conversation classes
and by keeping in touch with the new family and friends I made in Armenia.
Vicky Hougasian, Western Armenian course, 2011-2014
My mother is Armenian from Iran and I grew up listening to her speak this
language with her sister and singing Armenian songs. At school and
university I studied Latin languages. However, I knew I wanted a greater
linguistic challenge so I turned to my mother’s languages and initially
started learning Farsi. I was then encouraged to find a class in Armenian
and this is when I discovered the Armenian Institute.
I’ve never forgotten my first class where for the first time the sounds and
words I knew came to life and were given meaning. The approach taken
was extremely effective as we gradually started reading and writing
words in Armenian followed by grammatical structures and the “Golden
Rules” of Armenian The emphasis on grammar allowed a more instinctive
understanding of the language and meant we could start to say sentences
in a more Armenian way.
Through these classes I made some good friends who told me about their
projects to visit Armenia. I found out about the Armenian Volunteer
Corps and decided to spend a month volunteering and living with a host
family in Yerevan. All in all it was a fascinating, fulfilling and enriching
experience I shall never forget! I continue to maintain contact with the
Armenian community in London through AI events.
Nathalie Griffith , Eastern Armenian class, 2012-2014

BARDEZ/PARTEZ ISSUE 2014 13

To mark the centenary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, the Armenian Institute, in cooperation
with Yerevan-born, London-based cellist Alexander Chaushian, will be hosting a special concert in
London in Summer 2015. The Centenary Concert will be held at the prestigious Wigmore Hall on
July 12th 2015 and will present a programme of Armenian chamber music with Armenian soloists and
their friends.
One hundred years after the Ottoman Empire undertook the enterprise of wiping out its Armenian
population, there is today an independent Republic of Armenia and also a thriving diaspora spread
across the globe.
The world-class soloists who will be performing on the 12th July include:
Kim Kashkashian—viola
Sergey Khachatryan—violin
Lucine Khachatryan—piano
Vahan Mardirossian—piano
Levon Chilingirian—violin
Sergey Babayan—piano
Steven Isserlis—cello
Alexander Chaushian—cello
Yevgeny Sudbin—piano

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